Budget woes could lead to idle firetrucks

The Houston Fire Department could begin limiting the number of firefighters on duty, idling some firetrucks in the process, in a bid to reduce soaring overtime costs.

The so-called "rolling brownouts," in which HFD intermittently would take trucks out of service at stations around the city, are the central cost-cutting measure Fire Chief Terry Garrison is expected to propose to the City Council's budget committee Thursday.

"Anytime you're talking about operations that impact constituents in the community, that's always a huge concern, but we also have to trust that he is the expert on these matters and that's why he's in that position," Gonzalez said. "He has to say what he feels, where the cuts can and can't happen."

Councilman Jerry Davis said he is concerned about how to explain brownouts to his District B constituents.

"It just depends on how it's perceived," he said. "It's going to be a sensitive subject."

Ultimately, it may not come to that.

The Council could decide to cover the fire department's budget overruns from better-than-expected property and sales tax collections.

The mood around the council table and within the city administration, however, appears to be tilting more toward holding the fire department accountable to its $447 million budget. The department is on pace to overspend its budget by $10.5 million in the fiscal year that ends June 30. Of that, $8.5 million is attributed to excessive overtime driven by a staffing shortage, how time off is handled under the firefighters union contract and other factors.

"I'm not real sure that there are enough votes on council to just arbitrarily give them $8 million," said Councilman Stephen Costello, who chairs the budget committee. "Bear in mind, this is a short-term fix. It's just to get through the remainder of the budget, which is only four months."

As Mayor Annise Parker put it, "They managed their way into the problem; they can manage their way out."

Goal: Limiting overtime

Costello will present a resolution to the committee Thursday calling on Garrison to meet the department's original budget allocation. The committee is expected to vote on the resolution, and hear Garrison's plan to respond if it is approved. Committee votes are not binding, but are viewed as recommendations.

HFD spokesman Capt. Ruy Lozano declined to comment on the details of the department's plan until after Garrison's presentation Thursday. Houston never has instituted rolling brownouts, he said, but routinely shifts its resources within the city in such instances as when a large fire occurs.

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"It's called a 'back-in company,' " Lozano explained. "A company from the southwest quadrant could go to the southeast quadrant as a back-in company if, let's say, there's a huge incident in the southeast area that's occupying a lot of apparatus, making the area vulnerable to a secondary incident."

Andy Icken, the city's chief development officer and a deputy chief of staff for Parker who oversees HFD, explained the idea of rolling brownouts:

Under the firefighters union contract, the city is required to staff four people per engine or ladder truck and two per ambulance. When department commanders review staffing each morning, count the unexpected absences and move resources around, many firefighters typically are called in to fill empty shifts for overtime pay. The goal, Icken said, would be to limit those overtime shifts.

For example, he said, if only three people assigned to a particular fire engine show up, that truck would be taken out of rotation and the three firefighters would be assigned to trucks at other stations, or a firefighter from another station would be assigned to the fourth seat, with the truck he left behind idled. The number of firetrucks taken out of service and the overtime shifts filled likely would change each day, Icken said.

No stations at risk

"We'll make those decisions based on the number of calls per station, what the demand for the trucks has been. We'll also make it on, do we have another station nearby that can make that call within generally the same response time that that station did?" Icken said. "We're still going to have what is judged by the fire department as adequate coverage in an area."

No stations will be shut down entirely, Icken said, and a sixth cadet class that had been left in doubt by the budget troubles will be funded so as not to worsen the department's staffing shortage.

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Green light to refinance bonds

In City Council action Wednesday, members unanimously approved moving forward with a $1.4 billion bond refinancing deal. City finance officials and some council members had raised concerns about whether a firm selected to manage one half of the deal, Siebert Brandford Shank, had sufficient capital to ensure the city got the best price for its bonds.

HFD Executive Assistant Chief Richard Mann estimates the department is about 190 firefighters short of the 3,570 needed to operate most efficiently.

"Obviously, we don't want the citizens to suffer any diminished services," said Bryan Sky-Eagle, president of the International Association of Fire Fighters Local 341.

"We do want them (City Council) to grant the money because of the services we provide," Sky-Eagle said. "If they do not, the fire chief is going to have to make some tough decisions here."

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